HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

172 ROLF SPRANDELit is a chronicle of six epochs and used, along with individual writings,other world chronicles (probably Ekkehard in particular) forthe pre-Christian sections.Following the period covered by Martin of Troppau, GobelinusPerson mixes chapters on popes alternately with chapters on emperors.This scheme falls by the wayside with the eruption of the schism.The Cosmidromius produces a very intensive history of the Romanpapacy up to the Council of Constance and also a history of Paderbornby going back and forth to a certain extent between these two fociof the history, which the author himself personally experienced. Thehistory of six epochs becomes a sort of contemporary book; it becomesworld and regional history from an individual perspective. At thesame time, as he writes in the introduction, the author is driven bythe notion of apocalypse (“finibus seculorum, qui in nos devenerunt”)and writes, in connection with Daniel 2:35: “Visiones capitis meiconturbaverunt me”.The world chronicle of Dietrich Engelhus builds on GobelinusPerson. He also alternates between chapters about individual emperorsand individual popes but goes beyond Gobelinus Person in implementingthe scheme: he shortens the history of Urban VI to beproportionate to the histories of the other popes. He builds similarchapters for the popes and emperors who follow, up through MartinV and Sigismund. When he wrote his chronicle in 1422/1423, theworld supposedly had only a few years left. He himself continuesthe chronicle up through 1433. After that, others continue the writing.Various years are given for the end of the world: 1421, whichhe can easily reject. He did not live to experience 1467, anotheryear proposed. 50With that, we come to the next and penultimate category. In themiddle of the fifteenth century, Thomas Ebendorfer splits world historyinto two clearly separate works: an imperial history and a papalhistory. The papal history, written later, is conceived of as a counterpartto imperial history: “After having depicted the gesta of theemperors [. . .], I would now like to work out the catalogue of thepopes in a similar fashion (similiter)”. 51 Thus, with respect to exter-50Dietrich Engelhus, Weltchronik, 1101/1115–1395/1420, ed. G. W. Leipniz,Scriptores rerum Brunsvicensium 2 (Hannover, 1710), 977–1143, at 1142.51Thomas Ebendorfer, Chronica pontificum Romanorum, ed. H. Zimmermann, MGHSS rer. Germ., N.S. 16 (1994), 53–553, at 53–54.